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Monday's links: More Kenny G love, Kill's future & more

By Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer -
2 years ago

Got a case of Mondays? Well, a quick spin through my daily links may cure what ails you. Then again, maybe not. But, heck, why not give it a try? If it doesn’t work, you can always get back to doing your TPS reports.

I’ll tell you what, this Ohio State offense is better in some ways with Guiton under center instead of Braxton Miller, don’t ya think?

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Nebraska was one of the more disappointing teams on what for the most part was a disappointing Saturday for the Big Ten, racing to a 21-3 lead and losing 41-21 to UCLA in Lincoln. The defense received much of the blame. But the offense also had issues, as it didn’t score in the second half. Perhaps coordinator Tim Beck needs to narrow the scope of the offense. I’m for that. But, I also wonder what the identity is of this Husker attack.

Steve Sipple of the Lincoln Journal Star sums it up well: Sometimes I think Beck essentially outsmarts himself. And by doing so, he sends mixed messages to his players. To wit: He says Nebraska’s identity is a “run-first team, there’s no question about it.” However, on third-and-short, he will call for a pass out of the shotgun.

The good news for the Nittany Lions? They may not see an offense as good as Central Florida’s the rest of the season. Audrey Snyder of Pennlive.com says the Nittany Lions struggled to come up with answers to quarterback Blake Bortles’ potent passes, took poor angles and whiffed on open-field tackles and couldn’t generate much of a pass rush. Other than that, things were peachy for the Penn State defense.

“We tried everything. That’s the one thing I know I can say,” Butler said. “We emptied the game plan. We tried to play man, we tried to play zone, we tried half man, half zone. They did a good job.

“How your team responds to a loss ultimately defines your team more than how they respond to a win. We need to play better so that was the mindset, the theme with coach O’Brien. We’ve just got to put this one behind us and learn from it.”

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It may be a subject that’s uncomfortable for some to discuss, but Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune thinks Minnesota needs to think long and hard about Jerry Kill’s ability to continue to coach, given his health issues.

Souhan makes some compelling points: “Even those who admire him most can’t believe that he should keep coaching major college football after his latest episode. Either the stress of the job is further damaging his health, or his health was in such disrepair that he shouldn’t have been hired to coach in the Big Ten in the first place.

“The face of your program can’t belong to someone who may be rushed to the hospital at any moment of any game, or practice, or news conference. No one who buys a ticket to TCF Bank Stadium should be rewarded with the sight of a middle-aged man writhing on the ground. This is not how you compete for sought-after players and entertainment dollars.”

I wish the best for Kill and would like to see him continue, but are his health issues going to hold back the program?

Oates notes that the Badgers’ Big Ten season set to start Saturday at home against Purdue, they will need to purge the loss from their systems quickly. The Badgers have to let go of the feeling that they lost not to a Pac-12 team but to a Pac-12 officiating crew. They have to understand that their season didn’t end amid mass confusion the desert heat.

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1 Comment

Souhans article was offensive and should not be linked here. He actually has the gall to say that Kill has the same number of seizures in games as Big Ten wins as the Gophers coach. So he essentially said: “Kill is as bad at not having seizures as he is at winning football games!” What an incredibly ignorant and offensive statement that should not be tolerated. Please remove the link so that piece of garbage does not get web traffic. The man has a physical disability, move on and get over it. I was at the game Saturday and hardly anyone knew it had happened and the team rallied behind it and handled the situation beautifully. It should be a non-issue. Glad Teague discussed that today.